Wire-cable well-drilling device



Oct. 29, 1929. I D 1,733,484

WIRE (.EABLE WELL iJRILLING DEVICE I Original Filed Jdn. 13'. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet l (j/; VENTOR d mc g z a 9' fi m 44% ORNEY F. F.DAVI$- wmz CABLE WELLVDRILLING DEVICE Original Filed Jan. I3. 4926 2 Sheets-Sheet INVENTOR mea mgg BY I MIMI ATTORNEY Patented Oct. 29, 1929 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE FRANCIS FALCONER DAVIS, F MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA, ASSIGNOR 'IO FRANCIS HARLEY DAVIS, OF MONTEBEY, CALIFORNIA WIRE-CABLE WELL-DRILLING DEVICE Application filed .Tanuary 13, 1926, Serial No. 80,956. Renewed August 9, 1929.

My invention relates broadly to cable drilling machinery, but refers more particularly to portable drilling-rigs used for the spudding-in of shallow water wells, quarry blastholes, and the like; such rigs as customarily have a derrick or mast provided with a crownsheave at or near the top thereof for the support and service of the tooli-carrying cable.

Specifically my device may be classed as what, in driller parlance is known as, .a cracker, several forms of which are known to the prior art, but in relation to which my device to the best of my belief is a novelty and be 0nd doubt a reat improvement.

A crac er device is or use when drilling with the non-elastic steel wire cable instead of the elastic fibre cable so largely in present use. A cracker consists of a section of fibre cordage interposed at some oint between the drilling tool and the spu ding-beam so as to deaden the shock that attends the drilling act when direct steel wire cable is used as the tool-carrier without any shock-absorbing member.

One, and the most successful form of crack er in present use consists of a length of manila cable or hawser, about one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet in length, the lower end of which is attached by a ropesocket to the upperend of the string of tools, the upper end of the said hawser bein attched to the lower end of the wire ca le, or tool carrier. With a cracker of this length, which however is obviously inadmissible in shallow holes, a satisfactory simulation of the action of a cordage-carried drill can be secured even though the remainder of the pableleading from the top of the cracker up over the crown sheave and thence to the winding-drum be nonelastic. There are also derrick-mounted crackers which operate with more or less success but that -fail to meet the full requirements of the 5 case, principally because they use up so much of the space afforded by the limited height of a portable derrick in non-elastic members that there is not suflicient space left for the accommodation of an adequate amount of fibre cracker to give the required absorption of shock; whereas, by the use of my novel device every available inch of derrick is utilized for the purpose. Furthermore, provision is made for a plurality of parts to be used in the cracker of the present invention, by the use of which, coupled with a judicious application of my novel tension means a perfect simulation of the drilling action of a Cordage-carried drill can be attained while wire-line drilling, with the added advantage of the ability to drill with a rapid drilling motion irrespective of the depth of the hole, the weight of the drill employed or as to whether or not the drill is operating in a wet or a dry hole.

The increasing demand for shallow drillings makes the use of a" wire cable instead of a fibre cable a matter of serious importance, wire being less expensive initially than fibre cordage and longer-lived under the severe stresses which accompany drilling when done by the spudding process, which is necessarily the case in shallow drillings.

The chief object of my invention is to provide for a drill of the kind described, a novel form and arrangement of elastic cracker-rope for the support of the crown sheave.

A further object is to provide movable support means interposed between the crown sheave and the lower ends \of the cracker, the said movement being in a direction up and down the derrick mast.

Another object is to provide a cracker that may be applied or removed by the simple I act of throwing it across "the'to'p of the derrick, giving the utmost accessibility for replacement When worn and opportunity for observation of its condition.

Still another object is to provide tensionblocks for tuning the cracker to the required tension for tools of different weights.

Other objects will appear as the nature of the invention is better understood, and'the same consists in the novel form, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more full described, shown in the accompanying rawings, and claimed.

In the drawing, wherein like reference characters indicate corresponding parts throughout the views:

Figure 1 is a side elevational View, on a much reduced scale, of a drilling machine embodying my invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevational View of the mast showing the details of the invention on a larger scale.

Figure 3 is a front elevation of Figure 2.

F 4 is an elevational view of the upper portion of the mast structure with parts removed, substantially along the line IHIII of Fig. 6.

Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the mast structure taken on the line IVIV of Fig. i.

Fig. 6 is a side elevational View of the mast structure with certain parts omitted.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of a portion of a supporting member taken on the line VV of Fig. 8.

Fig. 8 is a sectional elevational View of the upper portion of the mast structure taken on the line VI-VI of Fig. 7

Referring more in detail to the drawings,

' Figure 1 shows a drilling machine of conventional type mounted on the truck frame 1. The hoist 2 carries the non-elastic wire drilling cable, or tool-carrier, 3, the surface end of cable 3-is attached to hoist 2 which is adapted for winding up or lowering down the string of drilling tools 4, being provided with wind ing and lowering means not shown, as forming no part of the present invention.

Cable 3, leads from drum 2 round back of sheave 5 then forward again under sheave 8 and up and over the crown sheave 9, thence it passes downwardly in front of the mast 10 and attaches to the string of tools 4 as shown. Crown sheave 9 is mounted revolubly on shaft 11, which said shaft is not supported by positively stationary bearings but by the U-bearings 12 as shown in Figure 3. The bearing 12, at the upper end thereof, is bored to receive shaft 11, the outer edges of bearing 12 beingsurfaced to fit the downwardly extending supporting members 13, which said members, are rigidly secured to the sides of the U-bearing 12 as shown by means such as the bolts or cap-screws 13*.

The vmast 10 in the present instance may be assumed to be afir timber twelve inches by twelve inches by thirty-five feet-long so as to give some relative idea of its dimensions, although naturally they may be greater or less. Said mast at its upper end has commu nicating transverse slots cut therein as 13 and 13 as best shown in Fig. 4, said slots crossing each other at right angles and extending for a sufiicient distance with the longitudinal axis of mast 10 to accommodate themselves to the peculiar play up and down therein of U-bearing 12, which'will further appear. 7

I wa'rdly on opposite sides of the mast 10, in

axial alignment therewith and with each other. These members 13 are preferably steel channels slidably mounted within the cleats 1-1 which are suitably spaced apart and serve to guide and maintain the spacing members 13 in a true up and down movement, as well shown in Figs. 6, 7 and 8.

At the upper, free end of derrick 10 will be seen the saddle 15 which performs the dual function of binding the slotted portions 10, 10 10 and 10 of mast 10 together and at the same time forming a semicircular bearing, with easy curves which afford a large easy are over which the flexible sling-cracker 16 may find support. Note, an object of the present invention is to provide an ample arcuate support for the said cracker, one that may be under observation at all times and easily accessible from the outside of the mast 10.

Saddle member 15 is a segment of a circle large enough to allow sling-cracker 16 to hang down free of the mast 10, as will be seen in Figure 3. It is furnished with rudimentary grooves 17 which act like the flanges of a sheave to hold cracker 16 securely in place, that it may not jump off when subjected to the jerky action of the drill.

These looped free ends 18 of cracker 16 hangevenly at each side of the mast 10 Where they may be engaged with the tension-block sheave 19 by removing said sheave from the block 20 by means of the pins 21. The tension-blocks 20 are each provided with screws 22 which engage the buttress and lock nut elements 23 and with the inwardly projecting spurs 23 which engage the slots 23 for up and down but not lateral movement, so as to steady the tension-block elements while the drill is'in operation.

From the foregoing description it will be clear that with a'string of tools 4 suspended as shown in Figure 1. and with the slingcracker 16 untensed, that U-bearing 12 would contact with the mast with its lower surface 24 resting on the bottom of the slot 13 at the point designated as 25. the apparatus is in this position and that the drill is about to be put into operation it now remains for the sling-cracker 16 to be acted upon by the screws 22 in such manner that the cracker 16 will be so tensioned by the approach of the blocks 20 to the buttress elements 23 that the U-bearing 12 will be so raised upwardly in the slot 13 from its point of contact of the mast, that the weight of the drill 4 will be carried in a floating, resilient manner by the cracker 16,the said weight being transferred from the derrick mast 10 to said cracker 16 through the medium of the supporting members 13. When tuned up to the necessarytension it follows that crown sheave 9 will dance up and down in the upper part of mast 10 in the slot 13 with great buoyancy and without striking any part of the rig at either extremity of its play.

It is obvious that many changes could be Assuming then, that made in the construction of my invention without departing from the spirit thereof; for instance, a single elastic hawser might be used for tools of light weight in which case a) eye-splice could be used on each end of the same to engage the tension-blocks. In order that a more concrete idea may be gained of the duty required of a cracker of this kind it may be well to state that with heavy tools running in normal rock from 45 to 60 reciprocations per minute a stout hawser of considerable length is required in order to retain its elasticity. The limited height available on a derrick'of,this kind will not accommodate suflicient single-ply cracker rope to handle heavy tools without excessive fatigue and impairment of the said rope; whereas by the use of my novel device I am able to provide as many parts or plies in the elastic cracker member as the weight of the tools calls for; and, by this means, distribute the weight of the tools throughout a more extensive medium of elasticity, thus securing the minimum of fatigue, a maximum life for the cracker and a buoyancy adequate to handle the heaviest types of tools employed in the art.

A special feature of in device is that it may be flexed or tensed wit out the removal of a single part from its normal working position. It being possible to slacken or tightenthe tension blocks 20 by means of screw 22 and the nuts 23 even while the drill is in motion.

The drill is operated by applying motion to the spudding beams 5* through crank 5 and pitmen 5 which alternately depresses and elevates cable 3 through being acted upon by sheave 8, which causes the drill to reciprocate, it being free to rock over crown sheave 9 in a to and fro manner on shaft 11. The weight of the tools is thus transmitted from crown sheave 9 to shaft 11, thence to U- bearing 12 and from the said bearing to the two supporting members 13 which in turn transmit it to the flexible cracker 16 thereby causing the weight of the tools to be borne by saddle 15, with the elastic element, cracker 16 functionin as a shock-absorbing member.

From the oregoing description, it is be lieved that the construction and operation, as well as the advantages of the present invention will be readily understood and appreciated by those skilled in the art.

What I claim as new is:

1. A drilling device of the kind described having a stationary mast or supporting structure, a saddle means surmounting the structure, said means being adapted to support an elastic cracker element, an elastic cracker element slung across said saddle with the parts thereof hanging downopposite sides of the structure, the parts being adapted to engage tension means carried by axially-displaceable supporting-members mounted on the structure, the members supporting a revoluble crown-sheave that is adapted for limited up and down movement, said engagement of the arts and tension means constituting a means or applying regulative strain to the cracker element for the resilient support of a string of drilling tools carried by a non-elastic wire cable supported by saidcrown-sheave.

2. A drilling device of the kind described comprising in combination, a supporting structure, axially-displaceable supporting members mounted longitudinally of the structure, a revoluble crown sheave free for limited up and down movement caried by the members, the sheave being slidably mounted in a stationary upper portion of the structure, an elastic cracker element slung across the structure at right angles to said sheave, the pendent parts of said element being at opposite sides of said sheave and adapted to coact with tension means carried by the members, the arrangement of parts being such that when the cracker element is tensed the up-thrust of the members affords buoyant support for the said crown-sheave on said elastic element.

In witness whereof I have set my hand this 8th day of January, 1926.

FRANCIS FALCONER DAVIS. 

